Since the time of the Ice Age artists, man has been continuously and increasingly interested in the acquisition of gemstones and in the art and craft of their alteration to satisfy his conceptions of beauty and utility. They are used for personal adornment, as talismans, as symbols of religion and of power, taken as medicine, used for financial security and as the gifts and sometimes the ransoms of kings.
Agates were often claimed to have magical properties. A 13th century manuscript notes 'a lion or an archer engraved on a Jasper, gives help against poison and cures from fever. A bull engraved on a Prase ( Chrysoprase ) is said to give aid against evil spells and to procure the favour of magistrates'.